Sports News-July 19, 2013

Zach Johnson takes a one-shot lead over 56-year old former British Open champ Mark O'Meara and Spain's Rafael Cabrera-Bello into today's second round at the British Open at Muirfield. Tom Lehman, Dustin Johnson and Brandt Snedeker are in a group two shots back. Three-time British Open champ Tiger Woods shot a 2-under 69 to join a group that includes Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth, the 19-year-old who qualified for the major after scoring his first PGA Tour win last week in the John Deere Classic. In other scores of note, defending champion Ernie Els shot a 74, Bubba Watson opened with a 70, Tom Watson and Fred Couples shot 75's, and Nick Faldo and Rory McIlroy finished with 79's.

Six college football players have been added as plaintiffs to a high-profile lawsuit that claims the NCAA owes billions of dollars to former players for allowing their likenesses to be used without compensation. The players are: Vanderbilt linebacker Chase Garnham; Clemson cornerback Darius Robinson; linebacker Jake Fischer and kicker Jake Smith from Arizona; and tight end Moses Alipate and wide receiver Victor Keise of Minnesota. Former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon is the lead plaintiff in the long-running legal battle that could fundamentally alter how the NCAA operates. A federal judge in Oakland is mulling whether to turn the lawsuit into a class action.

I-back Ameer Abdullah of the Nebraska football team was named a candidate for the 2013 Doak Walker Award yesterday. The award is annually presented to the nation's top running back and is named for Walker, a three-time All-American running back at SMU. Abdullah is the Huskers' top returning rusher, as he earned second-team All-Big Ten honors by the Big Ten coaches in 2012, despite splitting time with NFL draft pick Rex Burkhead. Abdullah rushed for 1,137 yards and eight touchdowns as a sophomore, despite making only seven starts. He totaled six 100-yard games, including four straight in Big Ten action and became the first I-back at Nebraska since 1994 to record 100-yard efforts in his first five career starts. The Board of Directors will name the semifinalists on November 14 and the finalists will be announced on Nov. 25. The recipient of the Doak Walker Award will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, December 12, on ESPN.

Nebraska has completed a contract for a future home-and-home football series with the University of Cincinnati, the schools announced yesterday. Nebraska also announced that it has finalized its 2016 non-conference football schedule. The series with Cincinnati will begin with the Bearcats visiting Memorial Stadium on Sept. 12, 2020. The Huskers will make a return trip to Cincinnati on Sept. 13, 2025. The contests in 2020 and 2025 are the first non-conference games on Nebraska's schedule for those respective seasons. Nebraska and Cincinnati have met just once all-time on the football field, with the previous matchup coming more than a century ago. Nebraska defeated Cincinnati in Lincoln, 41-0, in the 1906 season. The scheduling agreement with Cincinnati also includes a home-and-home series in men's basketball. The Huskers will travel to Cincinnati in the 2013-14 campaign, with the Bearcats making a trip to Pinnacle Bank Arena during the 2014-15 season. Nebraska also announced on Thursday that it has revised its contract for future games with Northern Illinois University. Nebraska and NIU had been scheduled for a three-game series, including two games in Lincoln and a neutral site contest at Soldier Field in Chicago. However, with the Big Ten Conference moving to a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2016, Nebraska needed to alter its 2016 non-conference slate. The 2016 contest between the two schools at Soldier Field has been canceled, completing Nebraska's non-conference schedule for that season. Although Nebraska and Northern Illinois will not play in 2016, the schools did announce that they have added two additional games at Memorial Stadium. Northern Illinois will now travel to Lincoln four times between 2017 and 2023 as part of the revised contract between the schools.

The Music City Bowl and Gator Bowl have teamed up to pick a school from the Big Ten Conference or Atlantic Coast Conference as one team in their games in a six-year deal starting in 2014. The partnership makes the two bowls among the few postseason games linked to multiple conferences and gives them more flexibility to match teams. Both bowls still must complete agreements to provide an opponent for the Big Ten or ACC. Music City has had a deal with the Southeastern Conference that goes through this year. The ACC expands to 15 teams and the Big Ten to 14 in July 2014. The ACC announced yesterday six bowl deals that run through the 2019 season. The ACC adds the Capital One Bowl in years when the game needs a replacement because the Big Ten is sending its number-two team to the Orange.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents has approved a $20.4 million soccer and tennis complex that will be built on the former state fairgrounds campground. The regents approved the plan yesterday for a complex in Lincoln that will include an outdoor, lighted soccer field with seating for about 2,500 spectators and twelve lighted outdoor tennis courts and six indoor courts. There will be combined seating for about 1,400 people at the tennis area. Plans also call for a new parking lot, dressing rooms, offices, concession stands and public restrooms. The complex is being built with private donations. The field and courts won't be open to public use. The facilities will be built at the former campground, adjacent to the Nebraska Innovation Campus. Construction will begin in May 2014.

Wayne State College Director of Athletics Mike Powicki announced yesterday that Brian Dolan has been selected as the new head men's basketball coach at Wayne State. He will become the school's 26th head coach in the 99-year history of the program. A formal press conference to introduce Dolan as the new Wildcat head coach will be held next week with details forthcoming. Dolan comes to Wayne State after spending the last seven seasons at Upper Iowa University. Dolan went 3-25 in his first season with the Peacocks and helped build the program to a 20-12 record this past season and a berth in the NCAA Division II National Tournament, the schools' first-ever trip to NCAA Division II postseason play. Prior to arriving at Upper Iowa, Dolan also served as an assistant coach at Texas-Pan American, College of Southern Idaho, Southern Utah and Southwest Missouri State while also serving as an administrative assistant at Oral Roberts under Bill Self. Dolan is a 1998 graduate of William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Dolan replaces Paul Combs, who resigned June 15 to become head coach at Carroll University in Wisconsin.

Local Schedule: Nfk Seniors Vs. South Sioux City at Columbus (A-6 Area Bsbl Tourn.-1:00); Omaha Storm Chasers at Albuquerque (Bsbl-8:05).